After the decision of the Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa, to grant Julian Assange diplomatic asylum, the question is how long can he stay in a small one floor suite of rooms in the embassy?

If Assange is driven to an airport, under international law, British police could stop an embassy car but would not have the power to enter the vehicle or to search it, But Assange would still have to leave the car at the airport, to board a plane to Ecuador, then police could take him into custody.

The Ecuadorian embassy, which only occupies one floor of the building it is in, it does not have a garage and has only one entrance, so Assange would have to exit the embassy to get into a vehicle, again leaving him open to arrest on the footpath in front of the embassy, however that is considered unlikely.

The building’s elevators are considered communal areas so if Assange tried to get to the roof to a waiting helicopter, he could be arrested en route.

Could he be taken out in a diplomatic crate or bag? Under Article 27(3) of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, “a diplomatic bag shall not be opened or detained”. Assange addressed the media and public from the balcony of the embassy on Sunday. Prior to the address a crate marked “Diplomatic property of the Republic of Ecuador – Umm…This is NOT Julian Assange” appeared outside the embassy.

Crate Chance

However, a diplomatic container – whether it is a bag or crate – “may contain only diplomatic documents or articles intended for official use”. The UK government could also scan the container.

You will remember my post about Russian punk band – Pussy Riot who were arrested for singing anti-Putin songs in an Orthodox Church. A Russian court handed down a two year prison sentence to the female members of the band.

In a mark of protest, women grabbed balaclavas and took to the streets in protest around the world.

The sentences were called “disproportionate” by the US in a criticism echoed by Britain, France and the European Union, which all used the same word in condemning the punishment handed down for the band’s “punk prayer” against Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. Seeing as they were arrested and imprisoned in February, will they get time off for that already served?

Even the Orthodox Church called for “mercy” to be extended to the girls prior to sentencing.

The mark of a good politician is one that can accept criticism, and such is the way of democracy. Putin is neither a good politician or democratic. The term political oligarch comes to mind.

The former KGB polkovnik has demonstrated that he has not changed his ways

I had hoped that my rantings in respect of the Olympics were over! Not so it appears.

After maligning the Australian athletes so poorly during the course of the Games – you remember…..terms like failure, letting the country down and disgrace to the green and gold – some parts of the Australian media have turned their attack to Team GB and the successes of the British team.

You will remember the medal tally:

3rd Great Britain:Gold 29; Silver 17; Bronze 19; Total65

10th Australia: Gold 7; Silver 16; Bronze 12; Total 35

Terms coming out of the media include “UK Waves the Rare Pom Pom”; Team GB stands for “Gloating Bastards”. The shock experienced by Australians they were overtaken by the UK was described as being “seismic”. Australia and therefore Australians, until recent times, have been magnanimous in defeat. They were always the “good sports”.

Now I see this continual “slashing of wrists” and “gnashing of teeth” by the media as Australia could only manage to slink into 10th place in the medal standings, whilst the “old enemy” sailed into 3rd placed with 29 gold medals compared to Australia’s 7.

As I have stated before in this place, the Olympics is not about the medal count, but rather the cream of the world’s athletes getting together every four years, and competing at the world’s premier sporting event. Then to add even more insult to Team GB and the UK in general, I noted this quote in the Daily Telegraph, 15/08/2012:

“Suddenly the Poms excel at sport and being arrested in Europe for drunken debauchery — whereas in Australia not only do wine sales now outstrip beer sales but latest figures reveal that Australians read more books per head of population and attend more cultural events than any other nation on earth. “

So now wine drinking is a measure of culture? Strewth!

The author then goes on to try to explain it this way:

“Pom bashing is merely revenge for centuries of English condescension. In truth, most English people see we antipodeans as recessive — the Irish of the Pacific. “

The bottom line here is that Team GB not only performed, they performed extremely well! They finished third after the USA and China, and that in itself is a magnificent effort. All that is left now is for the Australian media to try to denigrate this fine effort with a stroke of the quill and a drop of vitriol!

Let’s all look forward to the Rio De Janeiro 2016 Olympic Games, and hope that Australian media ideals will improve – I suspect not!

Gloating Bastards? I think not! I remember the adage: Winners are grinners, and the rest can please themselves!!

This Is Me

George Brown is a decorated soldier and health professional and 40 year veteran in the field of emergency nursing and paramedical practice, both military and civilian areas. He has senior management positions in the delivery of paramedical services. Opinions expressed in these columns are solely those of the author and should not be construed as being those of any organization to which he may be connected.

He was born in the UK of Scottish ancestry from Aberdeen and a member of the Clan MacDougall. He is a member of the Macedonian community in Newcastle, and speaks fluent Macedonian. While this may seem a contradiction, it is his wife who is Macedonian, and as a result he embraced the Macedonian language and the Orthodox faith.

His interests include aviation and digital photography, and he always enjoys the opportunity to combine the two. Navigate to his Flickr site to see recent additions to his photo library.